1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to electric rice cookers. More specifically, the invention relates to an electric rice cooker which has a timer and carries out cooking, i.e. so-called "timer-controlled cooking", at a desired time.
2. Description of the prior art
Electric rice cookers which employ a cooking control circuit composed of a microcomputer are now well-known. Using timer-controlled cooking, cooking is completed at a desired time by using a counting function which is provided by the microcomputer. An operator inputs data representing current time and a desired cooking completion time. The cooking completion time data is stored in a memory means. Cooking start time data is "computed" by subtracting the value of a desired cooking period of time from the value of the cooking completion time data. Cooking operation begins after a lapse of a standby period of time which is obtained by subtracting the value of the current time data from the value of the cooking start time data.
There are circumstances wherein it is desirable to carry out a rice cooker cooking operation at the same time everyday. Furthermore, the cooking operation may be carried out at a plural number of times during the day, e.g. in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. A conventional rice cooker with timer, which is able to store only one cooking completion time, cannot achieve the desired result. Even if a cooking operation is completed at a desired time which has been set for a morning meal, the operator must again set a new cooking completion time into the memory means so as to "program" the cooking operation for an evening meal. Even though the conventional device has a memory, the operator must set a cooking completion time into the memory each time he wants to carry out an automatic cooking operation.